Roleplay Inn

(Four out of Five Ales)

Crowfall has a lot of potential and actually seems to be creating a new genre I refer to as a MMOBA or "Massively Multiplayer Online Battle Arena" that is a hybrid of the MMO and MOBA genres. It's engaging fast paced, and fun. Currently though development is in a very half-finished state with players testing through the developers triumphs, and failures. The community as a whole also doesn't seem to be working with the developers to create a balanced and engaging experience for incoming players.

It overall makes for a game I see great promise in, but one I'll probably be checking back in on once they fix some of the more gamebreaking problems in their current implementation.

Innovation

(Four and a Half out of Five Ales)

That Crowfall is a unique game concept is indisputable. It was marketed with the line "eternal heros, dying worlds". What this line is telling you, is that like nearly any other MMO, your character is persistent. However the world's you fight for only last so long. The central focus of Crowfall is campaigns which have a start, a finish, and a victory condition much like a MOBA style game. The final outcome is that Crowfall is essentially a grand MOBA or could even be compared to a real-time strategy game where you play an individual unit.

Instead of matches that last minutes at shortest and hours at most, Crowfall campaigns last days, weeks, and eventually may even last months and include hundreds or thousands of players in the same campaign.

At the end of each campaign you can bring resources back from the campaign to your "Eternal Kingdom". A persistent server that functions as a form of player housing where you control the ruleset. So you can set it up as a trade hub, a PvP battleground, whatever it is you want to create.

But unique doesn't mean good. Ultimately if Crowfall's uniqueness is an asset or a gimmick rests on how engaging they can keep these campaigns for both the common player and the hardcore veteran. Based on the campaigns I've participated in though, it seems that it has potential to be great.

Character Control & Combat

(Four out of Five Ales)

Combat is aim based but they've made it very simple to stay on target. As long as you are generally aiming at an enemy your attacks will lock on. So it gives much of the immersion of an aim based system, but if you aren't the best aim you won't really suffer for it in Crowfall.

You also have a handful of activated abilities based on your class and customization. In total there are 8 regular activated abilities (9 with certain bonuses) plus an ultimate ability, a basic attack, and a dodge/block slot. These abilities can be switched up by using different trays. Every character will have a non-combat tray and either a melee or ranged tray. It is possible to have a non-combat, melee, ranged, and stealth tray all on the same character though.

Overall combat is pretty fast paced and action oriented. Elements of it are clunky due to its pre-alpha state but even in it's clunky state I find it fairly fun to use.

Customization

(Four and a Half out of Five Ales)

For a class based game, Crowfall has a lot of depth. First off there are 10 classes to pick from (With an 11th in the works), and most of them have multiple race options that have a pretty major effect on how they play. For instance a Half-Giant cleric will be a solid/tanky build while a Guinecean cleric will lack the sheer survivability of the former but have stealth options not available to it. Then within each class there are three distinct paths you can take at a later level. For instance the cleric can be the healing focused crusader, the crowd-control focused arbiter, or the damage focused radical.

Within the same class and subclass there is talent points you can allocate differently (though due to an abundance of them you'll likely find yourself only missing a few pieces of your talent tree and those tend to be very similar for meta builds within the same subclass) attribute allocation, minor and major disciplines, gears and vessels. Disciplines can dramatically alter the way a character plays with options such as new active abilities and passive abilities. Some even grant things such as a 3rd ring slot or 2nd neck slot, or taking the sharpshooter/arcane archer discipline on a melee character can grant the ranged bar to a character that wouldn't otherwise have it.

Gearing your character is a major aspect of it's customization especially when you consider your character itself is a piece of gear. The time to grind a character to max level in Crowfall is very short but this is largely because items called "vessels" exist that allow you to create characters stronger than you can originally create with various customization options available by adding body parts like eyes and hands to them to make them more specialized in gathering, crafting, healing, damage etc.

On the account level there is also a passive skill tree (skills that train at a constant rate whether you are online or offline), allow players to train into combat, crafting, or exploration (gathering) with any two of those trees constantly training. Initially this requires players to focus on a role such as mining, blacksmithing, or fighting with a greatsword and plate armor to be efficient. Eventually a character can max multiple roles though, meaning passive training becomes less of a customization path, and more of a reward for playing longer, the longer you play.

Challenge / Pacing

(Two and Half of Five Ales)

In the current iteration of the game the campaigns all follow a three faction ruleset. Players join Order, Chaos, or Balance and win points for their faction by taking control of various points of interest for their faction. From outposts which are pretty easy to claim as a solo player to keeps that generally involve large sieges with dozens on each side.

Unfortunately there is no incentive to join a weaker faction or penalty/restrictions on joining a strong one and as a result there always tends to be one faction that has a massive advantage while the others are clearly set to lose. So players frequently are left with the option of joining a side that is going to win with or without their help, or making the best of playing on a faction that's almost guaranteed to lose.

In a game where PvP is the primary content and PvE is more of an afterthought, this leaves things feeling a bit hollow.

On the bright side the barrier to entry to be a viable combatant in PvP is the smallest I have ever seen in an MMO, with the ability to be PvP viable within your first day of play if you have a guild assisting you, and within two to three days if you need to trade for your equipment and level with pick-up-groups. However the grind increases a bit with each patch. A trend that is drawing major pushback from the community.

Monetization

(Four out of Five Ales)

Buy once, play forever. You can pick up a copy for about 45$. However after you own the game there are microtransactions and plans for an eventual "VIP" subscription plan. The microtransactions currently offer perks for your eternal kingdom (essentially player housing) and cosmetics. VIP is being promised as "not pay-to-win" and they've discussed making it primarily cosmetic in nature.

The most "pay-to-win" aspect currently in the game is the ability to buy multiple accounts to specialize in many roles at the same time, though players who do so will find available play time may be a major limiting factor in effectively using many alts, and the advantage offered diminishes as more accounts grow old enough to train multiple roles.

Immersion / Artistic Appeal

(Three out of Five Ales)

The game is very stylized with a bit of a cartoon feel to the graphics, but also elements of realism. Music changes throughout the seasons and eventually the seasons themselves are supposed to have a more dramatic effect on the look and feel of the world. Overall I find the graphics and other artistic elements neither greatly enhancing nor diminishing of my game experience. The game really stands of falls on other factors.

Story / Lore

(Three out of Five Ales)

Gaea, the mother of the world died. During her life her blood, or the lava that flowed through the world balanced out the power of "the hunger" or a cold that consumes worlds. After he death her blood thickens, and cools. As it does so the worlds begin to die. All of existence is eventually doomed. However the living God's hold more influence over some worlds than others, and can protect the worlds within their reach for now.

For the worlds out of their reached, they've summoned crows, or spirits of heros with the ability to possess and control the bodies of living creatures. These crows they have sent out to the worlds beyond their reach to recover what they can before it's consumed by the hunger, and fight for their will.

As a sandbox game the lore of Crowfall is primarily background that can be ignored. But I do love when games address the fact players will be respawning over and over head on and incorporate it into the lore rather than glossing over it. They've also explained why campaigns have an end in the "hunger" that consumes worlds. Their lore is great at giving the world context, and some people really enjoy the lore. Ultimate though, the biggest story of concern to you in Crowfall is the story you tell through your interaction with the world.

Crafting / Economy

(Four out of Five Ales)

Crafting is a bit better and more complex than your general MMO. Check out the gathering and crafting guides at Roleplay Inn for a full understanding of these systems. Overall crafting is something I'd rate as a bit more complex and interesting than your general MMO, but it doesn't hold a torch to the truly great crafting MMOs that have existed over the years.

Gathering is another story. It implements levels of player skill and teamwork I've never seen before in an MMO. Gathering feels very fleshed out in comparison to the systems I've experienced in other games, and is probably the best system I've used thus far.

Stability / Performance

(Two out of Five Ales)

The game is currently considered "pre-alpha" and so allowances should be made based upon that. Bugs are currently rampant though, and many systems are only half-finished. It's surely improving over time, but you shouldn't play this title right now unless you're willing to suffer through such issues.